Late last year, our post The 15 Best Series on Netflix Instant went over so well that I thought I’d narrow the scope purely down to comedies, and for those looking for recommendations out of the norm, eliminate some of the more obvious choices like Louie, Parks and Recreation, and Arrested Development. It’s hard to recommend a show that no one has ever heard of — we’re all too hooked in these days that nothing really gets by us — but these are 10 great comedies that maybe flew under your radar. Or maybe you forgot about them before you got around to watching them. Best of all, they’re all available on Netflix Instant, so you can get started tonight (after Louie, of course).

Better Off Ted — Better Off Ted is like Arrested Development set in a corporate environment, so in a way, it’s a bit like The Office with a far more offbeat, skewering sense of humor. If that’s not enough to sell you, then all you need to know is their formula for the perfect swear word: Take a person’s most marked physical feature, pair it to genitalia, and end with the suffix tard, gobbler, f–ker. suckler, diggler, gurgler, puffer, queefer, guzzler, jacker, groper, or felcher. (Video Awesomely NSFW)

Green Wing — Green Wing is kind of like the British version of Scrubs, only it’s infinitely more bananas. It is ridiculous, off-the-wall, and almost completely unhinged. Yet, once you get past the odd editing style, Green Wing is as addictive as it is bizarre. Check out the (NSFW) clip (and zip ahead to the 1:00 mark) for a profanity-laced rant that would make Dr. Cox proud.

The Inbetweeners — Another brilliant British sitcom (being made into what looks like a dreadful American one for MTV), The Inbetweeners is a cross between The Wonder Years and American Pie, only far more filthy and hilarious than either one, yet it still manages to hit those poignant Kevin Arnold notes. It’s probably the best coming-of-age sitcom of the last ten or 15 years. Again, the clip is NSFW because even shows targeted at teens in the UK are profanity-fueled.

My old roommate introduced me to it earlier this year. I thought it got old after a while (constantly the same premise every episode with little variation other than the vessels he had to use were different) but overall the whole angle of the show and writing were smart and funny. Plus Kevin James had a hand in the pilot and the show in general, what’s not to like?

I enjoyed Reaper, but I thoroughly disagree with Dustin’s assessment of the comic performances of Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine as “amazing.” They were fine, but Ray Wise was the primary reason that the show worked for me. Also, the subplot where Sock banged his stepsister was probably the creepiest thing I’ve seen on TV in my whole life.

There are so many good shows I need to watch. I saw a few episodes of Slings & Arrows and liked them but never finished the run. I should revisit the show post-haste.

I’d recommend The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. The first season is on Netflix. I hope the second season shows up soon. David Cross is a hapless salesman in London and Will Arnett is his foul-mouthed boss. It’s fantastic.

I’m happy you all already recommended Black Books, Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and The IT Crowd.

I would like to add A Bit of Fry and Laurie to the list. You can’t go wrong with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. I also wish Fry’s quiz show QI would get a proper release here, rather than having to be scrounged off of Youtube.

I tried watching a few episodes of Inbetweeners but I only got through five of them. I normally don’t like British comedies and this one was no different. I don’t know if it’s the strange slang or that I have to really listen to get what they’re saying but it never connects with me. The IT Crowd is the exception to that tho.

I gave Terriers a try a few months ago after the constant mentions on here and because of that I hate you! Why the hell would you make me watch a show that I would like so much but only get one season of it!

Pretty much the first time I’ve seen Slings and Arrows mentioned by someone besides me. Good stuff. In Betweeners is pretty on-point too. A lot of people know about the American shows but these two are really deserving of attention.

I hate to be the dissenting opinion on here, but I thought Terriers was awful. I watched the first episode when it was on TV, and I found the writing boring and predictable, as the show was going along I could guess almost verbatim what they were going to say. And as much as I like the cast (the biggest reason I checked it out), I thought the acting was weak as well. I was so disappointed after watching the first episode that I had no interest in watching any others.

I re-watched the entire season of Terriers about a month ago. I had watched it on first-run, but had it all DVR’d. I had resisted re-watching it, because it made me so damn sad that it was done. But I was bored one weekend and decided to start re-watching, and I couldn’t stop. I watched it all — again — in 2 days. And now I’m sad again. So. Damn. Good.

The funny thing for me is I have all of these in my queue with the exception of Slings and Arrows. I just haven’t gotten around to watching them. With the exception of Better Off Ted. That show I watched when it aired and loved it.

it’s great to see terriers, raising hope, better off ted & the inbetweeners recommended. i have to recommend them as well with better off ted’s cancellation being the biggest disappointment. i thought the show was brilliant and would class it as my favorite comedy, at least prior to community.

spaced i started but my tv’s sound was too poor for me to make out the dialogue clearly enough. just upgraded so i’ll have to go back and try it. sons of tuscon has been surprisingly good so far, so i’ll def check out reaper. also most likely whatever other recommendations you made that catch my eye.

I’m not the biggest Seth McFarlain fan thanks to South Park (I pretty much do whatever Matt and Trey say), but Bob’s Burgers is f*cking garbage. It’s the antithesis of comedy. It’s terrible animation when there is no excuse for it. (South Park started as bad animation in the 90s with a low budget so don’t start). Just plain awful.

I loved Slings and Arrows. I just got around to watching it last week, and I was amazed at how funny this show was. As a Canadian, far too often I turn the channel when a Canadian show comes on – because far too often, its a poorly written piece of crap on CBC. I have always liked Paul Gross, so I gave this show a chance – and I’m so glad I did.